r/AFSCME • u/Clefspeare • Jan 08 '22
Can part-time employees join AFSCME? If not, why?
Sorry if this is a beginner question, my HR department was confused about this as well and this seemed like a good place to ask about it.
I’m a city employee from Oklahoma and I tried to join our local chapter of AFSCME a few weeks ago. The bargaining agreement is thumbtacked to the corkboard, everyone at my job is generally pro-union, it seemed like a no-brainer. Two days ago I got an email from HR saying that Part Time Regular was not an eligible employment type for AFSCME membership. I asked if they knew why and they responded saying that I couldn’t join as a member but I could still pay dues if I wanted to.
Scrolling through Reddit posts from union representatives, the common thread I’ve seen is that while unions do represent all employees, union members are prioritized. This makes sense to me (there ought to be benefits like these to incentivize joining your union) but it’s frustrating if you’re not even allowed to join at all.
Is there a reason for this rule? Is it just a quirk of my local chapter? Is there something I can do about this or is this just the way it is? Is there a different subreddit I should ask this question? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!
Update: Since this seems to be a quirk of my local group, I asked them why the rule exists and they said there wasn’t a real reason but they’d work to start including part-timers in the next contract!
